Scottsdale Unified School District has several controversial Genders Sexuality Alliance clubs on its middle and high school campuses. As reported in the Arizona Daily Independent, there is evidence of the district’s social workers using the Untiown Club as a cover for sexualized programming.
Now, a recent public records request to the district has resulted in disclosure of a blank patient intake form for a local hormone and gender transition facility located in the Phoenix area. The purpose of the document is yet unknown, and questions about the form to SUSD Superintendent Scott Menzel and members of the school board have gone unanswered.
The documents received by a parent in response to their public records request included the patient registration form for Identity Hormones, a Phoenix-based firm that claims to “understand the fluidity of gender and hormones.” The form was obtained in response to a request for official SUSD communications for Michelle Schulke, the librarian and Genders Sexuality Club teacher at Desert Mountain High School.
When contacted for additional context around the document, the district’s General Counsel, Lori Bird, told the parent that the gender transition patient intake form was included in error and no further documents would be provided. Bird elaborated that the document was an attachment sent by a student’s parent to Shulke, and that the district was unwilling to provide a redacted copy of the alleged email, which may have assuaged concerns that Shulke was distributing the form as part of her official SUSD capacity.
Parents feel they deserve answers from the district. Of particular concern is that the gender transition patient intake form contained no place for a parent or guardian’s signature, only the patient and a “witness” signature are required, further calling into question why an SUSD employee, who promotes gender identity causes through her GSA club, would have a need for this type of document.
Some have asked, given the history of Schulke’s passion for what some might call indoctrination of students into her GSA club, what is to stop her from printing this form and providing it to students? A review of SUSD’s student medical policies and procedures shows that they only include rules for administering medications to students. There is no policy against an employee distributing a form without parental consent.
The Scottsdale Unified school board members and Superintendent Scott Menzel have not responded to parent requests for statements about what actions the district intends to take to update medical policies given the discovery of the gender transition intake form in an employee’s email. They have also not addressed the parent’s concerns that this document was in the hands of Schulke, given her GSA leadership ties.
Despite the progressive insistence that gender-affirming care prevents LGBTQ+ youth suicide, studies show that giving kids cross-sex hormones might actually increase suicide rates. According to The Daily Signal: “State policies that allow children to access so-called gender-affirming care without parental consent have created a significant increase in suicides, according to a new Heritage Foundation study.”
SUSD has strongly supported GSA clubs in district schools, citing the marketing material for organizations such as GLSEN, that makes the claim that GSA clubs reduce the risk of suicide for questioning youth. This is an applaudable goal, however given the evidence to the opposite when it comes to youth transition without parental involvement, many expected Menzel and board member to take this issue seriously with a response.
In recent past, national news stories have highlighted how school districts across the country are training teachers to conceal students’ gender identities from parents, how teachers are recruiting kids into sexuality clubs, and pushing gender ideology into classrooms. In some instances, activist teachers coach other teachers how to hide the true purpose of “Equity” or “Sexuality” clubs. Locally, at Scottsdale’s Cocopah Middle School, students were allowed to secretly drop their parent-given names at school and instead use their teacher-endorsed gender names.
The result of these policies across the country is the number of children identifying as a gender other than their birth gender is skyrocketing.
While it is unclear if Schulke and SUSD are providing minor children with the gender transition patient intake form, many parents want answers from Menzel and the district.
Following are portions of the Identity Hormones Patient Intake Form that is currently in Schulke’s possession:
